A month or so ago I raised the point that the new Right to Roam legislation was being used to prohibit access on one of the Norfolk Broads.

The people responsible were the Broads Authority, a body related to the National Parks regime.

Pressure was exerted from various quarters, boating and angling. The BA now, coincidently, admit that a proscecution would not stand up in court.

Personally I see it as the Authority's bluff having been called and they have subsequently stepped down. It makes me wonder how often 'authority' actually acts without the weight of sound law behind their dictates.

Had it been sound then I suspect it would have been used against anglers and boaters in other parts of the UK, thankfully it isn't.

[ 19. December 2004, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

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Peter, I've always thought that this subject is very confusing and none more so than the Broads.
Just who does control these waterways? British Waterways, English Nature,The Broads Autority, The EA etc?

If you fish a river from a boat can the landowner who owns the land up to the riverside also own that stretch of river? Therefore could he legally stop you from boating/fishing on that stretch? Seems not because all of the rivers of Britain cut through someones land.

If you have the correct boat/fishing licences what is stopping you from fishing any public stretch of river? The Broads are all interconnected and mostly tidal so it's seems that everyone wants a say on what you can or cannot do in regards to fishing from a boat....but are they acting legally?

You are free to fish any tidal river of the Broads system, from a boat. What you are not free to do is to moor to any bank, unless its in public ownership. Nor may you cross private land or fish from private land. Theoretically you may not lay your tackle, e.g. a ledger, onto the bottom of a waterway. But, and I suppose I'm typical, I own 190 feet of Oulton Broad from the end of my garden. I have every right to stop people laying fishing tackle, or anchors, on my property, e.g. the land under the water. But no way am I going to insist on that right!